A Complicated Mess
by BreeHime
Summary: Meet Naida: an erratic hyperactive, halfblood of Gryffindor. Meet Claire: a gorgeous, bombshell of pureblood Slytherin. Watch Naida meet Claire, see the two create constructive chaos. OCxSirius, OCxUnknown. Set in Marauders' Era.
1. Starting Out

**Author's Note:** I'm kind of on a Harry Potter kick at the moment. I even created an RP forum with my friend . My other stories will get more attention when I can rustle up some more ideas for plot and such. This one I do have a basic outline for, and so I shouldn't get too distracted again.

A huge apology goes out to my readers and reviewers, I promise to update this month on my more popular stories. Don't forget that reviews give me ideas and muse, as well as drive to actually update!

**Warning: **Occasional OOC, some AU and mild language.

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**Chapter One  
**

The beginning of the school year always started the same for any student going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At least, it was always the same for one particular witch. Nadezhda, or Naida as she preferred, would awake to her overly exuberant parents bustling about the house to prepare to go to Diagon Alley. Eventually, the three would make it to the fireplace to use the floo network in order to travel to the Leaky Cauldron.

Naida shifted her light blue eyes over the many bustling witches and wizards upon passing through the archway between the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. She was determined to get a new pet while she was shopping, as well as a few new books and other odds and ends. Taking a silent glance at her smiling parents, she made up her mind to try and get a new broom as well.

"Mum, dad, I'm going to go shopping. You two should stay at the Cauldron and see if you find anyone you know." Naida was patient with her parents, as she always had been. There was not a single moment that went by that she didn't believe herself to be far more mature than the thirty-seven-year-olds standing next to her.

"You're absolutely right, princess." Her father nodded with a bright smile on his face that Naida was far used to. Sometimes, she couldn't help but to think that her parents should've been in St. Mungo's a long time ago. She waited a moment more for both of her parents to head back into the Cauldron before turning to begin her shopping.

"Have a colourful day, dear!" Naida's mother chimed just before she was out of earshot.

For a moment, Naida bowed her head to sigh to herself until she perked back up to her hyperactive and cheerful self. As she danced along to her internal soundtrack, her normally short attention span became even shorter. Colourful displays caught her gaze and she had to snap back to paying attention before she got ran over by the bustling crowd. However short her attention span was, she was always good at multi-tasking. That was, until she crashed into another body and fell to the ground with a thud.

Bright blue eyes met bright green, both blinking in silence before the other girl snapped out her annoyance. "Watch where you're fucking going!"

Naida frowned for a split second as she picked herself off of the ground. In a bored gesture, she brushed a strand of her dark brown and neon red hair out of her eyes. "Oh, bite me. Is there a law against having fun?" She brushed off the backs of her legs, not allowing the other girl to get her upset.

"When you fucking run into me there is!" The other girl was taller than Naida when she stood up, and used her extra inch and a half to her advantage to glare at the shorter girl.

Instead of backing down, Naida placed her hands on her hips to scowl. "It's not like I meant to." Her scowl suddenly faded as her hyperactive mind picked a different topic. "Look, I'm sorry about running into you. Let's act like civilized women, and go Quidditch shopping. I'm Naida, by the way."

"You've got to be kidding me." A single eyebrow rose up on the taller girl's face as she watched the other female shift her weight back and forth. "Are you mental?"

Naida's lips spread into a wide smile, "I get that a lot, but no, it's just genetic. C'mon let's go." She lightly grabbed her temperamental companion's wrist to pull her towards Quality Quidditch Supplies before the other girl tore her arm back to her own space.

"You are barmy." Said girl whom Naida had yet to get a name from, even as she continued to follow her into the store.

"Better barmy than boring. So, what's your name?" Naida paused in her excursion into Quality Quidditch Supplies to wait for a response. She shoved her hands into the back of her jean pockets as she watched the redheaded girl nearby her.

"Claire. Do you actually play, or do you fake knowing stuff?" She entered the store with Naida now trailing behind her with a light-hearted smile, hands still in her pockets.

"Nah, I play. You see the new Nimbus 1700? I'd do a year's worth of chores for that beauty." Naida eyed the broomstick in the window, the very one that she had been talking about. The taller redhead next to her laughed slightly and smirked at her comment.

"I have it already. Early birthday present from my parents." Claire laughed again at the shorter girl's expression on her face when she had turned to speak face-to-face. It was a mixture of awe and shock, as well as disgust with her nose scrunched up.

"I envy you, I was given just enough to get the Nimbus 1500 last year." She rocked slightly on her heels before twirling around to look at the various team paraphernalia. Personally, she was a Holyhead Harpies fan and mainly checked out the all-women's team things.

Naida glanced around, but finding nothing that she really needed to have, searched for Claire in the store. She found the other girl checking out new gear that had just came out. "Hey! I was wondering if you want to sit on the train with me tomorrow? It'd be wicked if I got to know you more, you know?"

Claire turned around to face Naida with somewhat of a smile, "If we find each other, sure." She looked once more at the gear before realizing what time it was. "Crap. I have to go meet my brother, I'll see you around."

"See ya!" Naida called to the redhead that was soon blending with the crowd of Diagon Alley. She rocked on her heels again as her eyes flickered over the different shops. For the new school year, she still needed a new pet seeing as her old cat had passed away and it was time for a new companion.

It didn't take much time for the sixteen-year-old to find a suitable owl for herself. The female barn owl she had chosen was plain brown and white, with a pretty moon-like face and white speckles on her brown feathers. "I dub you, Cosmos!" Naida raised the cage of her new pet and grinned before heading back to where she had left her parents.

Hopefully they hadn't gotten into too much trouble.

Outbursts of random and erratic behaviour were almost always present with Naida's family, so it wasn't any different the next day when the three headed for Platform 9 ¾ for the Hogwarts Express. Like Claire had said the day before, Naida was sort of unstable but she was nothing compared to her parents at times. Mainly, she was the more mature one.

Upon finally getting her parents to take care of one another, and leave her alone in their colourful plotting, the teenage girl managed to board the train. She still wore 'Muggle' clothing as she casually peeked into compartments to see if they were empty or contained any of her friends.

Suddenly, the sound of laughing and embarrassed groaning drew her attention. Naida slid the compartment open a wee bit to peek inside, only to get an eyeful of the four pranksters that rained trouble within Hogwarts. She slid the door open further and noticed that two of the more outgoing pranksters had played a joke on the less-popular member.

"What happened?" Naida questioned as she entered the compartment to take a seat on Remus Lupin's lap. He was used to being used as a chair for the random spaz of a witch, since they had become good friends the year before. She gently poked Remus' cheek with a smile, "How was your summer?"

Across from her, Sirius Black had finally been able to control his laughter at Peter Pettigrew's dismay. "Peter sat down in jelly." He gave a few more laughs at this as Peter hid his face in embarrassment.

One of Naida's eyebrows rose up at this before she too began to giggle slightly. "That is awful."

"My summer was as usual." Remus answered the only girl in the boy-filled compartment, a smile at Peter's predicament still on his face.

Naida's head nodded up and down before turning to the leader of the troublemaker's beside her. "Got loads of stuff planned for this year?"

Before James could answer her, Sirius spoke up with a wickedly charming smile on his face. "Why don't you come sit on my lap?" He eyed Naida, as he not so subtly flirted.

Her face scrunched up slightly and she threw her arms around Remus' neck tightly, hiding from Sirius' undressing gaze. "Remus, tell Sirius that just because he thinks he's hot, he's not." She felt the rumbling laughter of her best friend beneath her as he shook his head.

"I'm not your messenger, Naida."

The mentioned girl huffed and stood up from Remus' lap to stand at the entrance of the compartment. She wouldn't have had to sit on her friend if they had picked a bigger compartment, but they hadn't and so she re-opened the door. "Oh well, I'll see you four later. Don't worry, captain, I'll still be playing Quidditch." Naida fluttered her fingers at James teasingly before blowing a kiss at Remus as she left.

"She's mental." Sirius said the moment she left the compartment, shaking his head back and forth with a smile still slightly on his face. He swatted away the chocolate frog container that James threw at him in boredom.

"That's from the one chasing after her." James retorted with a laugh.

Naida had ditched her suitcase and owl in the hallway, where surprisingly enough they were perfectly fine. She grabbed both and took them into the compartment across from the Marauders'. It was empty, and larger than theirs, which pleased her plenty.

After setting her owl on one of the seats, and her trunk on another, she pulled out her robes to change into. She could change in record time, and she did so while humming a song from some Muggle band or another.

Once her school uniform was sitting properly on her form, she curled up on the large seat next to her owl. Her tie was loose around her neck, the Gryffindor colours bringing out the neon red in her hair. Just as she was closing her eyes to take a nap, her compartment door slid open to reveal the girl that she had met yesterday, Claire.

"Naida?" She questioned with a slight smile, her own uniform on although neither had seen which house the other was from. Naida lifted her head from her comfortable position to see who was calling her name. Her face brightened upon seeing who it was.

"Claire! Wait, you're in Slytherin?" Naida panicked for a moment before groaning and falling back into her seat, half of her body off of it in her flailing.

"Yes you barmy bat, I'm in Slytherin. I see you're in Gryffindor." Claire spoke as she entered the compartment with her own trunk, and a cat carrier in her hands. "Deal with it!" She flipped her hair over one shoulder with a smirk before sitting down across from the Gryffindor girl.

Naida wrinkled her nose slightly as she shifted from laying half-on and half-off the seat to sitting straight up more so than before. "What're you gonna do, bite me if I don't?" She teased as her lips spread into another smile.

"Don't tempt me." Claire laughed as Naida stuck her tongue out across from her. "See, I was right when I said that you're mental. You're in Gryffindor, it's bound to happen." She teased lightly, ignoring the house rivalry that was supposed to occur.

The red and gold coloured girl giggled at her new friend's words only to bounce out of her seat upon hearing the Trolley Lady come down to her compartment. "Want some candy? I want some frogs." Naida opened the door just as the lady with the candy cart stopped to ask if the two girls wanted anything.

"Grab me some blood pops and chocolate frogs too." She reached into her pocket to grab some money for Naida to buy her the specified candy, but the other girl had already done so with her own money and pushed Claire's hand away.

"Don't worry about it. You can always buy me a butterbeer at Hogsmeade later." Naida plopped her form back at her original position, handing the candy that wasn't her own to Claire and spilling the rest nearby Cosmos.

She opened one of her chocolate frogs slowly, so that the magicked chocolate couldn't escape before she ate it. "So I guess you play Quidditch for the Slytherin team."

"Mhm. I'm the Seeker, I can't believe we didn't recognize each other if you play for Gryffindor." Claire laughed as she unwrapped one of her blood pops to savour slowly.

"I'm a Chaser. I tend not to pay much attention to faces, but more to the ball and dodging bludgers. I think Quidditch is one of the only times I don't have a problem paying attention." Naida responded after taking a bite out of the no-longer moving chocolate.

An intrusion halted Claire from responding, as the four boys from across the hall blundered into the compartment to annoy the two females. "Naida, you're hanging with a Slytherin!" James scowled as he moved Cosmos to the luggage rack above with Naida's trunk, so that he could sit protectively by the Gryffindor girl.

"Did I say you could come in?" Naida demanded as Sirius grabbed one of her liquorice wands. She scowled at him and moved to sit by Claire, the only friendly Slytherin in all of Hogwarts Express. "My friends are my business."

"Piss off, Potter." Claire scowled across from her at the frowning boy. The other girl scowled as well, the two of them looking eerily alike as they did so.

"Get out!" Naida demanded, extracting her wand as she did so. She was by far exasperated with the Marauders who seemed to believe they could intrude on her whenever they wanted just because she was their friend.

The wand she held in her hand was 10 inches long, made out of Willow wood with a dragon heartstring core. It was her constant companion everywhere, and would always be. It shot out a heavy wind as she spoke the spell word to do so. "_Pulsus_!"

Caught unaware by Naida's rare show of annoyance, the four boys couldn't get another word in before each of them was forcefully shoved out of the compartment that the girls occupied. The door slammed shut once there was no more testosterone to bug them, and even if they tried to open it they wouldn't be able to.

"Those boys are so much trouble!" She complained to the Slytherin female next to her before she moved back to her own bench-seat.

Claire's annoyance turned to laughter upon watching Naida slump into her seat again. The Marauders had managed to steal more than half of the other girl's candy loot. "I don't know, I think Remus is kind of sexy. I'd make time for him any day."

Her words were met with a withering look from the shorter girl. "Doesn't matter if they're cute, hot, or down right gorgeous. They can be pests."

On the other side of the forcefully shut compartment, Sirius placed a hand over his heart in a melodramatic way. "I am not a pest. I am a well cultured annoyance." He grinned at his three close friends before they re-entered their own compartment. "Hear that Remus, you're 'kind of sexy'." He mimicked Claire, to which he received a playful shove.

"Shut up, Sirius. You are a pest." Remus groaned before he closed the compartment behind him, ignoring his slightly red face.


	2. The Feast

**Author's Note:** So yeah, let me know what you think :] I'm doing my best not to make Claire or Naida seem Mary-Sue at all. In reality, I'm a lot alike to Naida anyway ;P

Onwards!

**Warning: **Occasional OOC, some AU and mild language.

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**Chapter Two**

Naida and Claire took the same carriage to Hogwarts upon entering Hogsmeade station, much to the displeasure of their respective friends. It was only at the feast that they finally separated from one another to go to their house tables with a promise to meet up later again.

"See, I don't have a problem with other friends," James started as he sat down next to Naida at the Gryffindor table, "I just have a problem with Slytherin friends."

The girl rolled her eyes and pushed him with her shoulder gently. "Like I said, my friends are my business. Besides, you four never paid me any mind until Remus started tutoring me in potions. Then it was only because you wanted to know who was taking up his time." Naida laughed at Sirius and James' wounded looks, the former sitting on the other side of the latter. "Why can't you go pester Lily or something?"

Remus sat on the other side of their female friend, whereas the last member of the Marauders took his seat on the other side of Remus. "She shot him down again." He stated as he took Naida's attention away from James' complaining.

"Ahh. That makes sense. Please, pray tell, why is my friendship-life thingy any business of the Marauders?" Naida ignored the two on her right side that were trying, and failing, to get her attention.

A shrug was her response from Remus. He just went with whatever James and Sirius were planning. "They have grudges against Slytherin. Not that I don't either or anything, but it's just difficult for them to see why you want to be friends with one."

Naida was cut off, as it seemed to be happening a lot, by two other Gryffindor girls sitting opposite of her. "Hullo, Kara. Hullo, Alyx." She chirped brightly to the two close friends. They both raised one hand in greeting with smiles on their faces.

"How was your summer?" Kara questioned brightly, her elbows resting on the top of the long table that belonged to the Gryffindors with her chin within her hands.

"Mum and dad took me to Romania to the dragon preserve that is starting up." Naida replied as she ignored the incessant poking being done to her side by the leader of the Marauders. She swatted the hand that reached up to tug on one of her neon streaks, then turned to pout at James when he managed to grab one and pull. "What?"

"You're ignoring me."

"Well, you and Sirius can go off and have your passionate love together. Leave me alone." Naida wrinkled her nose at the boy sitting on her right before sliding over top of Remus to sit between him and Peter, sticking her tongue out again at the two boys on the other side of Remus.

Alyx laughed at the girl on the opposite side of the table, "I want to feel bad for you, Naida, really I do. But you know my opinion." She laughed again upon seeing Naida's pout deepen.

Naida could feel Peter quivering at the fact a girl was sitting next to him, his face a reddish hue due to his embarrassment. The sudden stop in the feeling meant that he had suddenly shifted away from her completely. She turned her head to find the reason why, only to push back into Remus again.

"Gah! Sirius, quit doing that." Her hands flew up to protect her face as said boy had moved from sitting by James to being between her and Peter. "What, are we playing musical seats?"

"What's a musical seat?" Remus questioned as James opened his mouth to ask the same thing. Kara turned from her conversation with Alyx to respond with a grin on her face.

"It's a Muggle game, you play music and then walk around a bunch of chairs. It gets harder to find a chair because you take one out each turn." She laughed at the looks on the boys' faces at her response. Just as James was about to answer, the headmaster began his speech.

Once he had finished, the feast had begun and the boys were too busy stuffing their faces to bother Naida or the other two girls across from her anymore. As usual, Naida managed to eat almost as much as the growing males on either side of her. She finished quicker than they did and danced away from the table with a flutter of her fingers towards the Marauders.

To her delight, Claire was waiting for her just outside the Great Hall with a bright smile on her face. The Slytherin girl was absent of any followers, as she had managed to snip orders out to them to leave her alone. "Hey there."

"Hiya, Claire~!" Naida chirped as she jump-hugged her new friend. Having begun to get used to the Gryffindor girl's strangeness, Claire half-hugged her back with a laugh. "How was your supper?"

"It was good, yours?" Claire began to walk towards the common grounds so that the two girls could sit together in relative peace, even though it was nearly time to head back up to their separate common rooms.

"Alright, beyond our four pests bugging me more than I could bug anyone in an hour." Naida said as she plopped her butt down onto one of the stone benches, pulling Claire down with her. "I bet you 5 Sickles that they find us."

The other girl laughed slightly, only to let out another bout of laughter as her gaze noted four figures heading their way. "Don't look now, but you've won your own bet." She motioned towards the advancing teens and Naida covered her face to let out her own laughter.

"They are such stalkers!" The red-and-gold crested girl threw her hands up in exasperation before giving up to wave towards them. "Remus I don't mind, he's a sweetheart. James and Sirius are the troublemakers. Peter is just creepy sometimes, but otherwise just follows the two leaders." Naida murmured to Claire who nodded along to the information.

"Waiting around for me, love?" Sirius asked with a charming smile on his face as he stopped in front of the more eccentric girl. She scrunched up her face at his words before kicking him in the shin lightly from where she was sitting.

"Don't call me 'love'. And hardly, Claire and I were having a civilized conversation before you lot showed up."

What suspiciously sounded like a snort came from James, and Naida frowned at him. He smiled innocently as he answered her questioning look. "I didn't know you knew such long words."

"You're cruel. Besides, you don't even know what it means." Naida retorted, turning her gaze from James Potter to her redheaded friend next to her who was barely containing her laughter. "Not you too," she whined as she tugged on Claire's wrist lightly, "you're supposed to be on my side."

Claire flashed a grin at the pouting girl, "I am on your side, for the most part anyway." She flipped her red hair back over one shoulder as she looked up at the boys. "I thought you four were going to be pigheaded that I'm in Slytherin."

"We've changed our minds." James stated as his hands folded across his chest while he looked down at the two females.

Naida made a questioning noise in the back of her throat as she looked at Remus for confirmation of their agreement. Said boy was doing his best to control his grin at how serious James was looking. Suddenly, the girl couldn't hold in her comments any longer.

"James, you look like you have something painful shoved up your butt when you try to look serious." Naida stated her opinion very solemnly before the group registered what she had said, and they all burst out into laughter.

The mentioned boy mock scowled at her, to which she gave a pretty smile in return. "I was trying to be nice." He sulked slightly, until Naida kicked him in the shin too. "Ouch!"

"Sirius doesn't complain when I kick him, so hush." She nudged James again with her foot before clinging to the girl next to her. "Let's blow this popsicle stand." Naida nudged Claire to stand up for the two of them to 'tactfully retreat', otherwise known as flee from the stalkers.

"I don't wanna go yet." Claire pouted as the Gryffindor girl tugged her away from the Marauders. "I was enjoying the eyecandy!"

"Enjoy it at breakfast." Naida huffed as she twirled around to jump onto Claire's back, "Onwards!" She pointed towards the halls of the school and the girl beneath her rolled her eyes before refusing to move.

"I'm not your bloody horse." Claire pinched one of Naida's legs, causing her to squeak and slide off with a renewed pout.

"Deny me fun!"

"Suck it up. It's curfew anyway." The redhead laughed as they walked towards the stairs. Naida clung to Claire in a tight hug before taking one of the staircases upwards to the tower in which she slept.

"See you tomorrow~!" Naida called down, while walking backwards to the Gryffindor Tower. Claire waved bye as she headed downstairs to the Slytherin Dungeon.

Upon reaching the Tower, Naida chirped the password to the Fat Lady after getting into a discussion with the woman about the effects of using too much of different compounds on a portrait. The portrait swung open for the girl, in a much better mood then she had been before due to a group of First-Years forgetting the password and having to guess.

Thinking that she was in the clear to go up to her room without any pestering, Naida found she was very wrong. The four who had just been down in the courtyard, were now sitting on the various couches in front of the fireplace. She shrugged off her amazement to plop down on Remus' knees as he was sitting on a recliner chair and not one of the sofas.

"Wow Naida, this is the first time you sat with us without being asked." James lifted an eyebrow and she stuck out her tongue at him.

"I'm tired, I want sleep. You four are keeping me from it, but it would've been worse if I had tried to get away." Naida explained as she pushed the lanky Remus into the corner of the recliner for her to squish next to him in.

Sirius smirked at her words and nudged James with his shoulder. "I think she remembers last year when she tried to run away." As he recalled the event, James' face lit up slightly.

"Ah, I remember. It was that rope-spell we learned." He gave a wicked smile towards the curled up girl and she yawned in response.

"I'm not running. Remus promised me a good night's sleep. As much as I love pranks, I really do need to sleep." Naida uncurled herself from the squished up Remus and the recliner to stand up. She scowled at Sirius as opened his mouth; "You try living with two parents who are no better than children."

With that said, she climbed the stairs to the girl's dormitory where she could crash on her bed for a much needed rest. Sirius made a face at her retreating back before looking back to the other three boys. "She should try living with my family." He rolled his eyes and James bumped his shoulder lightly to perk him back up.

The Marauders had begun their planning of the school year.


	3. Nomnoming Stairs

**Author's Note:** Yay update~! The Marauders' planning shines through a bit more in this chapter. I'm eagerly awaiting comments! I'm like a crack-head for reviews ;P

**Warning: **Occasional OOC, some AU and mild language.

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**Chapter Three**

A soft groan escaped the sixth year Gryffindor; she covered her head with a pillow to block out the light that one of her dorm mates had let in. The pillow was taken away with a laugh and Naida groped the air wildly for the fluffy object. "Up, get up." The thief of her pillow laughed.

Naida wrinkled her nose and covered her eyes to slowly allow the bright light into them. "You're such a bloody jerk." She growled as she slipped off of the red-and-gold coloured bed. The tall, dark haired girl gave another laugh in response before slipping into the bathroom, her job accomplished.

Instead of trying to look nice, the teenage girl changed into her school uniform and threw her hair up into a messy bun with no makeup. The vibrant neon streaks stood out even more and she tugged on one of the hanging ones gently. She looked at her tired appearance in one of the mirrors before pulling out her Willow wand.

Tapping her hair gently, she murmured the colour-changing charm to add vibrant gold streaks within the neon red. Satisfied with her nearly glittering hair, Naida didn't bother with the cloak or the vest and chose to carry them instead. She slipped on her shoes before heading down the stairs to go to breakfast.

After entering the Great Hall, she stood on her tippytoes to wave slightly at her friend sitting at the Slytherin table. She received a wave in return, and now satisfied she took a seat at her own table. Just as Naida had begun to fill her plate with the breakfast foods, two warm presences at her sides made her realize that the boys had found her. A hand reached out to pluck a pancake off of her plate and she turned to see who it was.

"Sirius." Naida sighed before she replaced the pancake once more. She nudged the boy on her right with her shoulder and he smirked at her as he filled his own plate. "Do I get to be included in this year's pranking?"

"Maybe. If I get a kiss." Sirius grinned at the other Gryffindor who scowled at him. She flicked his nose with her thumb and middle finger, and then turned to look at the boy on her left. Remus had managed to beat James to the spot and was quietly filling his plate. He wasn't much of a morning person, so she let him be for now.

Naida ignored the conversations around her seeing as she didn't feel like being a morning person. As they ate, the Head boy and Head girl handed out the term schedules from their Head of House and she accepted her own with a smile. Her gaze scanned over the classes before it was snatched out of her hands.

Sirius whistled and she raised an eyebrow in a silent question. He grinned at her as he responded. "Nice schedule, looks like we're all in Transfigurations, Potions, and DADA. It's just me in your Care of Magical Creatures." The piece of paper was then snatched out of his hands to reside in James' so that he could look it over himself.

"I'm in your Charms." He said, giving a quick glance at Lily who was sitting further down the table. Naida held in a snort at this, he was only taking the class to be with Lily and everyone knew it.

She reached over Remus to grab it from James with a quick smile to the quiet Prefect boy. As she did so, she looked at the piece of paper already in his slightly scarred hands to note that they had Divination together. "What, are you four stalking me now?" Naida questioned with a laugh, she shook her head as she settled back into her own seat.

"What d-do you mean?" Peter asked from the other side of Sirius. The girl peered around the latter boy to see the nervous and very silent stalker-of-James-and-Sirius.

"Well, besides you, each of the other Marauders are in my classes separately or together." Naida leaned backwards into Remus who allowed her to rest her back on his shoulder. She stabbed her last sausage with her fork to shovel into her mouth as she relaxed. Suddenly the girl began to claw at the air near Sirius' face in a pointless show. "Rawr, rawr."

The boy she was 'attacking' flinched back away from the intrusion in his bubble before giving Naida his most charming smile. She retracted her hands and eyed him wearily, taking notice of how his grey eyes had lit up. That was never a good sign when it came to staying out of a lip-lock with the big flirt.

Frantically, the girl looked to Remus for support but he was busy entertaining James by playing a good listener for the complainer. A squeal escaped her as Sirius' fingers touched her extremely ticklish sides. In a moment of fight or flight, Naida leaped up from the bench to flee to the Slytherin table where she received more than one glare wishing her dead.

"Claaairre!" Naida flew at the green-eyed teen that was sitting at the green-coloured table. Ignoring the looks she was getting, she grasped Claire's wrist and tugged gently to get her friend moving. "We have to fleee."

Claire scowled at the other Slytherins who were looking disgusted by her new friend. It was common knowledge that Naida was a half-blood, having been one of the ones that they picked on before the Marauders became her close friends. "One word, and I'll hex all of you." She growled before climbing off of the bench to allow herself to be led out of the hall at a fast pace.

"What happened?" The redhead questioned to the shorter girl. The gold, red, and brown haired girl rocked back and forth on her heels as she shifted her eyes back and forth slowly.

"Black attacked me." Naida whispered in a hushed voice. An eyebrow rose up on the other girl's face and Naida pouted at the look she was getting. It was a fairly common one, usually meaning that she was being crazy.

"What, you want me to save you?" Claire questioned, getting two quick nods in response. She laughed and looped her arm around Naida's to walk her towards their first class. "Wait, you do have Transfigurations first thing, right?"

"Yep!" Naida chirped brightly, feeling better about having to survive multiple classes with the pests-slash-stalkers.

When the two reached Professor McGonagall's room, they took a table together having silently agreed to it in the first place. They had arrived slightly early, and so they talked quietly to get to know each other more. Although she had never told anyone outside of the Marauders, Naida admitted to Claire that her parents were more than a bit mental and she worried about them sometimes.

"Hey now, they took care of each other and you." Claire nudged her friend's shoulder with her own, who grinned in response to this. "Now, are you any good at Transfigurations?"

"It's my one of my favourite subjects. Transfiguration, Charms, and DADA are my three favourite, in that order. You?"

"That's easy, DADA."

"Cool. I think we have that together too." Naida glanced at the door leading into the classroom as it opened, fluttering her fingers at the four boys who had entered behind a trotting cat.

The cat was Professor McGonagall and the girls greeted her as she walked by them. Sirius continued walking forward to drop Naida's cloak and vest on her head before laughing and walking back to sit with James. Naida stuck her tongue out at him, then turned to pay attention to their professor.

The lesson that the animagus woman was teaching them today was a basic review; changing beetles into buttons and than back again, as well as guinea fowl into guinea pigs. Naida made faces at Claire, who was trying to keep a serious face to put emphasise on the spell. After much giggling between the two of them, they managed to complete the lesson and listen for what the homework was. Half a foot of parchment on Cross-Species Switching was due for the next day.

"Damn. I thought we'd get away with no homework on the first day." Naida complained to Claire as they exited the class, the four boys close behind them. Oddly enough, the Marauders had been relatively well behaved during Transfigurations, but Naida didn't doubt that they had something up their sleeves.

On their way down to potions, the two girls could hear groaning and the occasional screech coming from the staircases. An eyebrow rose up on Naida's face as they approached the sound, the four behind her hiding little smiles. Upon reaching the source, they couldn't help but to start laughing at the sight. More than one Slytherin and Ravenclaw had gotten themselves stuck to the staircases, seeing as they would open randomly to 'nomnom' on their feet.

"Seriously?" Claire questioned through her laughter. Naida had tears starting in the corners of her eyes as she watch as the other students would escape for a few moments only to get 're-eated', as she had put it.

"Genius, don't you think? And it's only the second day of school." James spoke as he stood by Claire, admiring their handiwork. A sudden yelp sounded and the group, minus one, turned to see that Peter had gotten his foot stuck in one of the staircases' makeshift mouths.

Seeing this caused Naida, who had just started to recover, into another fit of laughter. Sirius had dissolved into laughter as well, although he had a much more attractive way than the gasping girl. Remus couldn't help but to crack a grin at the entire scene, even laughing slightly at it.

It was going to take a little while to get to Potions class.


	4. School Life

**Author's Note:** Update, update! I hope everyone is enjoying it as much as I am~! Please review :]

**Warning: **Occasional OOC, some AU and mild language.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

As all things fun must come to an end, one of the professors had arrived on the scene and reversed the charm that had been put on the staircases. It had been McGonagall and she gave a subtle threat towards the Marauders that anymore pranking and there would be house points lost plus detention.

Sirius, the smart-mouth, had pointed to himself with a faux innocent look. "Who, me?" He questioned before the woman glared at him and left.

Their trip to Potions was otherwise uneventful, other than the occasional giggle between Naida and Claire. Upon reaching the class, they all sat at tables relatively close together. The girls took a middle one, Sirius and James took the one behind them, and Remus was stuck with Peter to the right side of the other two boys.

The group of six had double Potions and then lunch, which they could survive if James would shut up about food.

"Good morning class." Professor Slughorn called out from the front of the class with a large smile on. "I've decided that as a first-day-of-class treat, we'll brew a potion. The potion I've decided on is Amortentia."

He was met with quiet cheering from the class, Sirius and James high-fiving one another behind Claire and Naida. The latter girl grinned and looked at Claire, who was waving to another Slytherin who in turn was scowling at her. Upon closer look at the moody boy she had waved to, Naida noted that it was Severus Snape. He wasn't that bad to her, but she heard that he was particularly nasty to Lily Evans once.

Naida wasn't close to Lily, and she doubted that she ever would be. Lily was far too different from the other girl for them to get along. Naida encouraged the Marauders' pranking and jokes, she was even far more eccentric than any of them. Lily disliked anything that was _fun_.

"Pass me that vial." Claire asked of the musing girl, who did as she was told. Rocking back and forth on her heels, Naida sliced up the ingredients required and then grinded them by hand.

"Now, I know making the potion will be fun, but I do have to give homework. What I would like for each of you to do as homework is write about what you smell, and why, if you know. What you write will be kept in strictest confidence. All smells are not related to romantic love, contrary to popular belief. If I take a very deep breath of Amortentia, I catch a whiff of the way my mother's chocolate chip cookies smelled. I am giving you two weeks to complete this assignment, because it may take you some time to identify the smells, and to find their significance to you." Slughorn rattled off, ignoring the groans coming from the class now. He moved to set up the large cauldron at the front, knowing his sixth years would know what to do with it.

Naida wrinkled her nose at the professor's words, but continued to work on the time-consuming potion. After a pain-staking process, and much laughter from behind them, the potion began to take on a milky colour.

"Almost done!" The dark brunette cheered, watching with Claire as the liquid within the cauldron began to take on a mother-of-pearl sheen to it. Naida inhaled the fragrances first and relaxed her rocking with a blissful smile. Claire giggled at her friend and poked her side, causing her to squeal and move away slightly.

Professor Slughorn walked to their table and inhaled, "Very good job girls, 30 points to each of your houses. An additional 20 each for overcoming your house rivalries, good job Claire." After the Head of Slytherin had walked away, they celebrated together.

"Sweet, I'm usually the one losing points. I got 50!" Naida giggled before stirring her potion around randomly. Claire agreed with her, laughing as well.

"So what's it smell like to you?" The redhead questioned as she watched the Naida take in another deep breath. The girl paused for a moment before she answered with a small smile.

"Mmm. Saddle leather, melted chocolate, the air after it's rained, and…something I can't place." She frowned at the last one, not entirely sure what she could be in love with that she didn't even know about. Perking back up, she looked at Claire to ask the same question while ignoring how the Marauders had crowded around her to listen to her response. "What about you?"

An eyebrow rose up on Sirius' face, "Saddle leather?" He asked in puzzlement.

Naida turned to him with a light smile on her face, "Yeah, mom and dad used to take me horseback riding when I was younger. Mom has Muggle family who own a bunch of horses."

Sirius made an acknowledging noise as he leaned back on the table behind him, which was where he was supposed to be. Their potion was already made and poured into Slughorn's large cauldron at the front, so he was merely hanging around Naida to pester her. The reason for them being monitored, and having to pour it into the large cauldron, was to keep them from administering it to any of the other students.

Claire breathed in the potion and sighed lightly. "Warm vanilla, strawberries, and sandalwood." She answered Naida as she cleaned up the scattered leftover ingredients from the table. "What about you boys?"

"The forest, and a few other things." Remus spoke up, ignoring Peter's sulking as he had banned him from touching any ingredients for the complex potion. Peter generally ended up screwing up the potions, which is why they were surprised when he had passed his Potion's OWL with an E.

A smile spread on Claire's lips at his answer, "What an amazing insight you've given me." She playfully mocked him to which he merely smiled at and cleaned up his own mess.

"The ocean." Sirius said suddenly, smiling at Naida who was cautious about returning the favour. "And a couple things I can't place."

James' face took on a longing appearance and the girls rolled their eyes at each other, knowing what was coming. "Lily's hair-"

"Quaffles, and fresh cut grass." Naida cut him off with a laugh, causing the rest of the group to either laugh or chuckle as well. He scowled at her and she dodged the paper ball he tossed at her head.

After pouring all the Amortentia into the large cauldron of Slughorn's, they left the class together with plenty of teasing and pushing. They eventually made it to the Great Hall for lunch, where Claire was forced to part with the group of Gryffindors to head back to her own table with much clinging and fake sobbing from Naida.

The rest of the day went on without much incident, beyond a few hexes towards Slytherin students by James and Sirius. That especially included Severus Snape who, as Naida had found out, had called Lily a 'mudblood' the year before.

Naida finally found herself in the Gryffindor common room, lounging on one of the couches for just her as she idly worked on her Transfiguration work. The moment the portrait swung open, she could smell the thing that she had smelled in Potions and she lifted her head up to see what it was.

What met her eyes caused her cheeks to flush in silent embarrassment. It was Sirius Black, walking backwards talking to the other three.

In total silence, she packed up her stuff and headed for the stairs to turn in only to be stopped by Remus' voice. "Naida! Where you going?" He called out, unable to follow her up to the Girl's Dorms.

The girl turned to flash a bright smile, although easily distinguishable as fake. "I'm tired, going to bed." With that said, she fled to her bed where she could hide behind the curtains of her four-post.

Nearly two weeks went by that Naida managed to get off by hanging out with just Claire, with the occasional meeting with the Marauders. However, it was time for Quidditch and she was a Chaser for the Gryffindor team.

With James as Captain and one of the other Chasers, Naida knew that she had no choice but to hang out with them again. She controlled her blush to stand next to Sirius, who was a Beater for the team.

"Ready?" He questioned with his most charming smile. Naida stuck her tongue out at him, finding it easier to forget about the whole thing. She kicked off of the ground as they began try-outs for a new Chaser, Seeker and Keeper.

Claire had been banned from their Quidditch practice, although she had tried to promise that she wouldn't give away their secrets. So in the end, it was just Remus watching them in-between his Prefect patrols.

As soon as Quidditch try-outs came to an end James had assured three people that they had a spot on the team. He was especially pleased with their new female Seeker, who had been scouted to play professionally for the Holyhead Harpies.

Naida changed out of her Quidditch clothing in the girls' changing room before heading out to jump onto Remus' back. He had just finished his patrol, and had politely excused himself from the Prefect girl in their House, so Naida deemed it necessary to get a piggyback ride.

"I'm excited for this weekend, are you excited?" She questioned, resting her chin on one of his shoulders as he walked towards the other boys.

Remus' lips pressed together in a frown, knowing that the girl couldn't see his face. "I might not make it to Hogsmeade this weekend." He spoke, trying not to give anything away. None of the boys had enlightened Naida as to what exactly his "furry little problem" was.

"Oh. I guess I'll go with just Claire then." Naida replied in a dejected tone. She had friends, like Arielle and Kara and Alyx who were other Gryffindors, but she just didn't see them all that often.

Feeling bad that he was missing the first Hogsmeade weekend, Remus squeezed one of her legs that were wrapped around his waist loosely. "I'll make sure to go next time." He promised as she slid off of his back to look into his face.

A bright smile lit up her own face, and Naida nodded in response before waving to Claire who had timed her return perfectly. With a fake giggle, she latched onto the slightly taller girl's arm. "Wanna be my date to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"No one else has asked." Claire made a face as she responded. "Apparently I'm degrading my blood by chilling with Gryffindors. Especially Regulus' brother and you."

Naida frowned deeply at Claire, looping their arms together. "That's stupid. I mean, I know you're a Slytherin and everything, but still. So, let's go have fun in two days without blood comparing or ditchers."

"Sounds like a plan." Claire agreed as they walked back in to the school, planning on hitting up the library to finish their newest Transfigurations homework.

It was in the rare sanctuary of quiet and whispers that they bumped into Lily Evans. Quite literally too.

Naida fell onto her butt and scrunched up her face at the cold floor hitting her bare legs. She lifted her eyes to see the frowning face of another redhead that she knew. Naida's blue eyes blinked a few times almost owlishly before grinning. "What is it with me, and running into redheads?"

Lily rolled her eyes at the other girl and helped her to her feet, retracting her hand as soon as possible. They had Charms together, so the not-so-friendly redhead was being forced to put up with the hyperactive ball of joy. "Careful, Nadez-"

"Shhh." Naida said, covering Lily's mouth with both of her hands. She hated her name and preferred not to be called by it.

Claire covered a giggle, seeing as they were in the library and Madame Pince was bound to bite off their heads if they made too much noise. "Hurry up, we have to get through this." She waved her scroll of parchment and tugged on Naida's shoulder.

With a nod, Naida uncovered the Prefect's mouth to allow herself to be led to a table. "Ta, Lily~!"

Besides the occasional paper ball being thrown back and forth, Naida really didn't manage to accomplish much work. She flicked another piece at Claire who scowled and batted it away to finish her last sentence. "I'm bored." Naida stated solemnly as she idly drew a bunny on the corner of her homework.

"I'm done." Claire replied, rolling up the dried theory paper. She made a face at the other girl, who giggled in turn. The green-eyed Slytherin, whom Naida had noticed looked a lot like Lily in some ways, tugged Naida's parchment towards her so she could see what she had wrote.

_In order to Transfigure, one must keep their attention focused at all times…_

In her opinion, it was actually quite on topic for the usually mental girl. When Claire looked up, she had to stop from laughing too loud. Naida was rocking backwards on a chair as she fruitlessly tried to grab a book from one of the shelves. She opened her mouth to warn the rocking girl, only for Naida's chair to tip over.

"…Ow." Naida complained from the floor, having landed on her back after falling sideways. She continued to lie there, even as Claire cracked up at the sight. "I see feet…Shit, run!" She scrambled to her feet, grabbing her nearly done parchment and Claire at the same time.

They fled from the scene as fast as possible, hearing laughter following them until Naida quickly darted around a corner and behind a few suits of armour. The group that had been following them continued to walk by while talking and laughing amongst themselves.

Naida held in her laughter until the last moment possibly, a few covered up snickers escaping her from Claire's wide-eyed and confused look. After the four well-known boys had turned another corner, Naida stepped out from behind the suits to crack up laughing. "You should see your face!"

Claire scowled playfully and swatted her friend's head, "You idiot, I thought it was Madam Pince or something." Unable to help herself, she began to laugh too until the two of them were nearly crying. She straightened herself up and wiped away tears to tug on Naida's wrist back to the staircases. "Let's go, you mental woman."

Upon reaching the stairs they noticed Sirius kissing a girl from Hufflepuff in a corner and Naida began to snicker again. She didn't feel hurt or anything, even though she was apparently 'in love' with him, she was far used to the manwhore anyway. With a poke to Claire's shoulder, she motioned to the 'couple' in the corner.

As Claire began to laugh, Naida made kissy faces at her, which caused her to laugh even more. "Merlin, my lungs!" She cried out, still laughing as Naida continued the faces.

Naida finally stopped when Sirius looked up to roll his eyes at them. The Hufflepuff girl scampered off with a flushed face and wide eyes. "Having fun there, _love_?" Naida drawled teasingly.

"Maybe I was. It was a dare." Sirius rolled his eyes and moved close up to the two girls, sliding his arm around Naida's shoulders. "I've only got my eyes for you, babe."

With a shudder, the girl ducked under his arm and turned to face Claire in order to hide her very slight pink face. Claire had only just recovered from the laughter and tapped a finger to her cheek with a grin, pointing out Naida's blush.

"Sod off, Sirius." Naida called over her shoulder, moving with Claire in the direction of the stairs to the Dungeons.

The other three Marauders stepped from around the bend to stand near Sirius. "Are you being serious?" James questioned with a slight smile.

"Of course I'm Sirius." The teenage boy replied cheekily, watching as Remus and James shook their heads at his answer.

Near the stairs to the Dungeons, Naida clung to Claire with fake sobs. "I can't wait until this weekend to see you, my love, I can't bear to part with you."

Claire snorted at this and pulled out of the crazy woman's hold. "I'll see you in class tomorrow, you 'tard."

"Oh right." Naida beamed at Claire as she began the trip downstairs. "See you tomorrow then~!" She waved and received a rolling of the eyes in return. With a hum, the girl started her own journey upstairs.


	5. Hogsmeade

**Author's Note:** I'm trying to update at least once a day for this one, as it makes me happy to write it. So far, I'm stuck for ideas on my other ones, reviews or PMs would be awesome. Or if someone sends me a boxset of Justice League season one for Christmas. That would awesome too.

Please review :]

**Warning: **Occasional OOC, some AU and mild language. I also don't own anything, 'cept Naida. Claire goes to my bestie, Niki.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

It was a few days later when Hogsmeade weekend finally came around. Seeing as it was restricted to third years and up, Naida was easily able to manoeuvre around the pouting midgets who belonged in first year to second. She slipped on a pair of very light blue jeans with rips across the legs, as well as a red shirt with a gold lioness' face staring from her stomach. To match it all off, the girl slipped on a pair of mid-calf biker boots that had loose straps on the sides.

In order to overload the Gryffindor theme she was going with, Naida wrapped her red and gold coloured scarf around her neck, leaving two long ends to hang over her front and her back. After applying her eyeliner and adding a bit of eye shadow, she was on her way down the staircases with her wand slipped into her right boot.

Naida met Claire at the bottom of the moving stairs, giving her a smothering hug and caused the redhead to laugh at her overeager friend. The Gryffindor girl pulled away to eye Claire's outfit. She wore a knee-length black dress with green flecks lining it in an interesting pattern, as well as her own House scarf around her neck in the same manner that Naida had hers.

"Yay, house colours~!" Naida cheered with a giggle before intertwining her fingers with her Slytherin friend's.

"I'd like to visit Honeydukes first." Claire commented out of the blue as they made their way down the path to the wizard/witch village.

"Mm, me too. I need some more chocolate frogs, one of the boys ate them all."

Together the girls made it to the candy store, and then moved on to the Three Broomsticks. Naida plopped herself onto one of the stools at the bar where she spun half way around, and then the other half way around before stopping to lean her elbow on the countertop.

"I wanna go to Zonko's." Naida sulked to Claire, who had just ordered two butterbeers. The redhead raised an equally red eyebrow at her sulking friend.

"You're joking. We just got here…and you're the one who chose to come here next."

Naida scrunched up her nose, until the butterbeer was placed in front of her and her attention shifted to the deliciousness that was the drink. "Ooh, butterbeer." She popped open the bottle and began to sip at it as Claire eyed the people in the building.

When the door opened, Claire's vibrant green eyes were on the attractive boy and she nudged her friend with her shoulder. "I give him a seven." She murmured with a wicked smile. Naida continued to sip from the bottle as she turned slightly on her stool.

"Meh, six point five." Naida's blue eyes roamed over the faces of the male population already sitting down before motioning in a direction. "Now he is an eight." Claire giggled as Naida showed off her own wicked smile, and they continued to rate the guys that surrounded them.

After a few minutes of the rating-game, immediately rating anyone who walked through the door, a group of three guys entered. Naida poked Claire's shoulder and motioned to the Marauders-minus-one. The latter girl made a face, having been told that they were ditching the girls of the group.

"Zeros." Claire announced with a mock scowl, rolling her eyes as the boys looked in her direction.

"Definitely agreed…I wonder where Remus is." Naida finished her butterbeer that Claire had paid for and slid off of her stool to walk towards James. A frown marred her usually happy face and she tugged James to the side to whisper to him. "Where is Remus?"

James pulled his head away from the short girl to look at her before his own frown appeared. He didn't like lying to her, seeing as she was like a little sister lately. Nonetheless, the boy leaned down to whisper back very softly. "He had to make an emergency trip home, his mum is sick again. We're just stopping in for some butterbeers and then heading back."

Naida fiddled with one of the ends of her scarf, thinking in rare silence. Remus' mom was sick very often, she surmised, seeing as he was absent for days here and there. She grabbed James' arm before he could walk away to whisper one last thing.

"Tell him I hate his disappearances, and most definitely secrets." With that said, the girl put on a bright face to move back to Claire who was watching their exchange with a confused look on her face.

"What was that about?" She questioned as they picked up their Honeydukes bags to leave. Naida's eyes flickered to the trio, noting that James was whispering to Sirius and the latter boy's eyes were on her. She raised a hand in good-bye before they exited the pub.

"Remus' mom is sick again, which I can understand, but I hate that he leaves without saying anything. I knew he wouldn't be at Hogsmeade…It just frustrates me to be left out of something when I'm supposed to be good friends with him." Naida ranted before she blew out a sigh. Having said her piece, the girl moved into Zonko's joke shop with Claire trailing behind.

"Pet peeve?" Claire asked as she grabbed a few sugar quills, placing them in a basket for the two of them. She watched as Naida nodded while picking up hiccough sweets to place into the basket.

"One of my top ones, yeah."

"Well then, you do what I do best; either the cold shoulder or the bitch." The redhead smirked down at the shorter girl who giggled in response. She placed a couple wet-start no-heat fireworks in the basket as well before counting the items they had gathered.

"I'm too sweet to be a bitch." Naida stuck her tongue out at Claire playfully. She eyed a new Wizard's Chessboard that was practically calling her name. When her attention span was good, she was actually quite excellent at the game and Remus was a very good opponent to practice with. With a shrug of her shoulders, the Gryffindor grabbed the board to take it to the counter.

Claire followed her there and they separated their stuff to pay then leave. Rather than carry their stuff back to their rooms, they dropped it off with a House elf that hung around Zonko's for that very reason.

"I prefer to be in the loop, you know?" Naida brushed her gold glittering bangs out of her face to pop into Honeydukes again, craving one chocolate bar. She moved towards the wrapped chocolate, whereas Claire waited at the entrance. After purchasing the last item that Naida's allowance possibly could, they made their way back up to the castle.

"You could always talk to him about it." Claire offered, before snickering at her own idea. "God, it sounds like I'm giving marriage counselling. The two of you should just get it over with and start dating."

Naida stopped in her tracks to stare at her green-clothed friend with wide-eyes. "Were you dropped on your head as a child?" Upon seeing Claire shrug, she made a disgusted face, "That would be like dating my quieter twin."

Claire made a face too at her response before shuddering. "I get the picture. Although…you two aren't all that alike from what I've seen." She laughed and moved through the gates to the inner courtyard of Hogwarts.

The smaller girl continued to walk beside her as she messed around with the end of her scarf. "Well, we aren't I guess. I'm a shitload more random, and I actively participate in pranking. But, when I'm calmer we do play chess and read books." She mused to her new friend, dropping her scarf to loop their arms together.

"Ahh. Makes sense…so does that mean he's available for me?" Claire questioned with a wicked smile, earning a laugh in response.

"If you can somehow separate Sirius and James from him, then yes I imagine he is."

Having managed to waste a considerable amount of the day in Hogsmeade, they moved to go back to their own dormitories. Naida fluttered her fingers down the stairs to her Slytherin friend, who in turn blew a kiss up to the Gryffindor.

When Naida entered her own common room, she was amazed to find that the three leftover Marauders were absent. After randomly spazzing out on a group of first-years, Naida happily made her way up to her bed where many happy bags and her wonderful bed awaited her.


	6. The Effects of Sugar

**Author's Note:** Yeah, not much to say. Still hard at work, although it's Christmas break now so I have more time. And yet, I don't. *sigh* I've recently become one of the employed. Wish me luck!

Please review :]

**Warning: **Occasional OOC, some AU and mild language. I also don't own anything, 'cept Naida. Claire goes to my bestie, Niki.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

The morning Remus had come back to the common room from dealing with his 'little furry problem', Naida had gotten into the sugar. She had immediately glomped him tightly before dragging him out of the room to go find Claire, ignoring his weak protests against her.

"We must ploottt." She chirped while dragging the Prefect boy here and there in search of a fiery redhead clothed in green. "This is your ebil punishment~!"

Upon finding said redhead, Naida switched from clinging Remus' arm to latching onto Claire's shoulder. The latter girl looked down before up at the Gryffindor boy. "She got into the sugar, didn't she?"

"It was just five chocolate frogs, three liquorice wands, four chocoballs, and two pumpkin pasties!" Naida grinned, counting the different types of candy off on one hand before spinning around to head towards the courtyard.

Claire and Remus shook their heads then looked at one another, the former laughing slightly at her crazy friend. "We should follow her before she hurts someone."

The slightly crazed, and very sugar-high teen ended up sitting between a group of First years who were becoming ever more terrified of the twitchy girl. Naida grinned at one of the quieter boys who had been slowly moving away from her. As if a cat spotting movement, she leaped to catch him and hold on tightly in a half-hug.

"Do you believe in nargles?" She stage-whispered, ignoring the blood that was rushing to his face.

Remus snorted slightly at the sight, whereas Claire burst out laughing. Claire moved to pull the clingy sugar-high Gryffindor away from the poor Hufflepuff boy who was shaking in his seat. Naida looked up at her friends with a pout before allowing herself to be led away. She waved to the group as she walked backwards.

"Bai bai Hufflypuff who believes in nargles~."

"…I know the perfect thing to do." Claire murmured to Remus, a mischievous smile upon her face, while Remus merely shook his head in amusement. She turned to stop Naida once they had come to an empty corridor. "Naida, you should sing your favourite song in the courtyard. I'm sure Sirius and James would love it."

Naida grinned at her friend before turning on her heel to walk in the direction Claire had told her to. She began to hum her song, only to burst out in full-on singing when she spotted the rest of the Marauders.

"I'm a gummybear, yes I'm a gummybear~." Growing up around Muggles did have its benefits, especially when it came to the gummybear song. Naida giggled at her song and continued to sing, following James like a lost puppy as she did so.

Claire couldn't help herself when she began to sing Crazy Frog next to Sirius. The boys looked at one another before fleeing as fast as they could, doing their best to get away from the crazy women.

With her sugar-high ending, Naida plopped onto a bench with a tired smile on her face. She tugged Claire down with her to sit on the bench, solely so that she had someone to rest her throbbing head on. "I do love sugar-highs, hate the downs." She covered a yawn as Remus looked on with a smile.

"I'm amazed you were able to ingest that much sugar in the first place."

"Bleh, that's nothing. You should've seen when I was a kid and mum took me trick-or-treating during Muggle Halloween." Naida rested on Claire's shoulder while looking up at the boy of their trio.

"I'm half tempted to ask one of your Gryffindor girls to take your candy away." Claire teased before avoiding Naida's random flailing.

"I'd die without sugar. Anyhow, I'm off to pester James some more." Naida perked back up to tug Claire to her feet. "Come with me. You too Remus~."

Remus eyed the two girls that both wore mischievous smiles, "I'm not entirely sure I want to endanger my life."

Naida snickered at his response, and then grabbed his hand to drag him along with her and Claire. "Speaking of endangering our lives…I want to find Peter's shrine."

"Peter's shrine?" Claire questioned, laughing slightly at her own words. They meandered towards the staircases as they talked and plotted.

"Mhm, I'm firmly convinced he has one…What if he has like one of James' socks or something?" Hearing a snort behind her, Naida turned to stick her tongue out at Remus. "You're helping me, so don't even try to get out of this."

"This has got to be the only time when I wish I was in your house." Claire laughed, seeing how determined Naida was to find Peter's shrine to James and Sirius. "Oh hey, I just thought of something. Sirius hasn't stalked you down today to flirt, he got someone?"

Naida rolled her very blue eyes at her close friend, "I wish. No, I think it's got to do with the fact we just scared them away with our amazing singing."

"…Singing as a weapon. Very nice."

"You're going to sing now when ever they come into a room, aren't you?" Remus asked wearily, watching the shorter teens put on two completely faux innocent faces.

"What ever gave you that idea?" Claire questioned, winking at Naida who giggled in turn. They randomly picked and chose stairs to go on, Naida leading them to the ones that were moving. Eventually the three made their way to the Great Hall where Claire split from their group.

"Ta, I'll be over after supper." Claire fluttered her manicured fingers towards Naida who did the same, and then they each went to their own tables.

A few days later, Naida was into the sugar once again. She nibbled on her sugar quill as she sat next to Claire in the library, wearily eyeing her quarter-done parchment. Instead of finishing her own work, Naida chose to stand up and stretch.

"Okie dokie, I'm done for now. Let's go kill more time."

When Claire protested, seeing as it was a DADA paper they were working on, Naida merely grabbed her and pulled her along. Somehow though, the motions of working against each other caused Naida to get a fairly bad papercut.

She pulled away with a hiss and scrunched up her face at the stinging. "Owwwie…Now can we go?" Naida looked at her friend with pleading blue eyes and the redhead finally surrendered. Claire grabbed their things before they headed out, with Naida's finger still bleeding at a slow trickle.

They had only been walking for a couple of minutes down the corridor before Claire stopped with a scowl. "I forgot my favourite quill, I'll be right back." She turned and started in the other direction at a slightly fast pace while Naida nodded after her.

The sound of a group walking towards Naida had her watching wearily, not knowing what House they were in. Seeing the telltale green and silver, she moved to the side slightly. However, the male leader of the group headed straight for her. She scowled at them and they smirked in response.

"You're like a pack of ugly mutts." Naida ground out, hating being caught alone. One on one she could do, same with the sneaking thing, but one against a group and she'd rather not be there.

"Look who's talking," The guy sneered, causing Naida's hand twitch towards her wand. Like a light going off in her head, she looked at her bleeding hand with a bright smile.

"What're you smiling at, mudblood." One of the girls questioned with a haughty tone as she stood in the center. Naida looked up at them and rolled her eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you lot, it's impossible to have dirty blood…unless your mom sleeps with her brother. Which is most likely what most of your parents did." Naida smiled politely as she insulted the Slytherins, carefully noting a redhead walking back in her direction and was followed by four others. "But if you're really soo interested in my blood, you can have some."

The red-and-gold coloured girl raised her bleeding hand and stepped closer the bunch with a grin. Upon seeing that they moved back only slightly, she reached out to touch the closest person in front of her. Just as her blood neared his face, they all turned their backs on her to run away and caused her to snicker at them.

"Well, that's a new one." A dry, masculine voice sounded from behind her. Naida turned and stepped back upon seeing Sirius invading her personal bubble. He was putting on his charming smile and she gave a slight smile in return before moving by him to cling to her bestest Slytherin friend.

"Claiire, your housemates are jerks." Naida pouted, making sure to keep her slightly bleeding hand away from touching the redhead girl. Feeling someone tug on her hand, Naida pulled away from Claire to allow Remus to heal her large papercut.

"Yeah, I know." Claire muttered, glaring in the direction of where the other Slytherin students had retreated off. They should've known better than to pick on her best friend.

"[i]_Vulnera Sanentu_[/i]." He touched her hand with his wand and the skin sealed up quickly, removing any traces of the blood on her hand as well. "There you go."

"Thankies, Remus." Naida pulled her hand back into her own bubble before invading his in a clinging hug. Used to her random hugging, Remus merely patted her back until she let go to hold onto Claire's hand. Rather than stick around in the corridor doing nothing, Naida began to walk in a random direction.

James and Sirius started whispering behind the girls' backs as they walked together in one giant group. Peter joined their whispering on occasion, actually managing to input his ideas for once. Upon hearing one of their more promenant ideas, Claire turned to add in her opinion. "I dorm with them, so it'd be easier for me to do."

As if it was the most shocking thing they had ever heard, Sirius and James stared at the redhead who smile prettily in response. At some point in the exchange, the group of five Gryffindors and one Slytherin stopped walking to stand in the corridor to look at one another.

"Are…are you serious?" James questioned, his eyes slightly wide beneath his glasses. He hadn't expected Claire to willingly volunteer to help with their pranking.

"Deadly. No one screws with my best friend." Claire put on another innocent smile, although the tone of her voice was deadly. "Besides, who doesn't love a good prank?"

Naida giggled at the looks on the boys' faces as she held Claire's hand, she had the bestest friends in the world. "What, you'd think I'd pick a best friend who doesn't like pranking?" She questioned in a teasing tone, giggling at Claire when she made a face down at the shorter girl.

"This'll be awesome." Sirius gloated finally, grinning at the rest of the group and causing them all to smile – or grin – in return.


	7. Halloween

**Author Note: **Wow I'm lazy. I have another six chapters to post, I just take forever actually posting them. Thank you to nessa1998 for your review and to everyone who has alerted and favourited this :D

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing and no one but Naida. Claire goes to my best friend.**  
**

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**Chapter Seven**

Time flew by for the fun-loving group, having pulled various small pranks over the months. There was one large prank that made the rest rather dull. It wasn't long after the incident between Naida and the group of Slytherin that Claire managed to swap all the girls' shampoo with charmed lotion that made their hair turn rainbow colours. To make sure that no one knew it was she, she used it as well and managed to turn it into a fashion statement whereas the other girls looked like walking disasters for the day.

For the guys, the group was a little crueler in their prank. Instead of a mere colour change, the guys ended up bald for two days until the school healer could regrow their hair. None of the school could even look at the Slytherin students with a straight face for a week, except for Claire who everyone knew was apart of the Marauders group now.

Soon enough, it was the weekend before the Halloween dance that the professors had spontaneously decided to have. Everyone clamoured down to Hogsmeade in order to get his or her costumes, especially since it was only fourth years and up.

Claire and Naida chose to utilize the benefits of the Marauders map in order to beat everyone to the stores. The latter girl pinched the handy parchment from James' drawer before hightailing it out of the boys' dorm room before they returned from the Great Hall. Once the coast was clear, the duo took one of the passages to end up within the clothing store.

"Any idea what you want to be?" Naida questioned her best friend as they skimmed through the racks, ignoring the bustle of other teens that had already arrived. She glanced at an angel costume then wrinkled her nose before continuing on.

"Sort of. I'll let you know if I find it." Claire called from the other side of the rack as they moved to opposite ends of the store.

It took some time, and some fighting, as well as some hair pulling, for Naida to finally get her costume. She eagerly showed it off to Claire who in turn grinned and flaunted her own. They high-fived each other before turning to pay for it with their allotted allowances sent by their respective parents for this particular occasion.

Naida spun on her stool in the Three Broomsticks as she drank her Butterbeer, causing her to start getting slightly queasy. Upon seeing her friend's face getting slightly green, Claire put a stop to her spinning and made her stay still. The Gryffindor leaned her head against the bar counter as she willed the world to stop trying to knock her down.

"Still wanting to come to our party?" Naida groaned out against the counter, her face losing the green-tint as the world stopped spinning so much.

"Mhm. They're charming the common rooms tonight to fit all of the respective students…you're going to sneak me into your party since I can't stand the boys in my house lately."

"And mine are much better?" Naida questioned with a slight laugh as she finished off her Butterbeer. "I've got a better idea, let's crash the Hufflypuff party."

Claire raised an eyebrow at the somewhat nauseas girl who gave a half-hearted grin in response.

It was no surprise that they had left their costume shopping until the afternoon before the actual parties. What came as a surprise, was that they hadn't spotted the Marauders all day long and hadn't even heard of a single prank. Rather than question it, Naida and Claire merely finished their Butterbeer before heading back to the castle.

That evening, before the parties were due to start, Naida continued to keep a hold onto the Marauders' Map. She remained unaware that they were frantically searching the Gryffindor tower from top to bottom for the parchment, as she had decided to put it to use again and sneak into the Slytherin common room.

Rather than search for Claire, the girl decided to lounge out on one of the Slytherin couches. She leaned back and eyed the slightly cold common room, feeling slightly weirded out that the room glowed green. "Man, it's cold in here." Naida complained to herself, unaware that someone was actually present.

"It is under a lake." A male voice sounded from across from her, causing her eyes to drop down to spot Severus Snape.

"Well, who's bright idea was that?" Naida retorted, not mentioning that he really should've been trying to kick her out. Rather than answer the crazy teen, Severus sighed and walked back down to the boys' dormitories in order to perfect his mad potion skillzorz…according to Naida.

Following his lead, Naida eagerly moved down the opposite stairs in order to reach her best friend.

On the Marauders' end, James was currently arguing with Sirius about where the map was last. "I had it in my drawer, under the false bottom _with_ a hex on it!"

"Well _obviously_ your hex sucked because it's gone!" Sirius yelled back, both of their faces livid with one another as they had their lovers spat.

"Or _maybe_, you took it and forgot where you put it!" James ground out as he pointed to his best friend in his anger.

"Guys?" Remus tried to intervene, his voice not quite as loud as the other two were at. When they ignored him, Remus sighed and grabbed the piece of parchment left behind in the map's place to shove it into Sirius' face. "Neither of you did it."

Sirius snatched the paper to read it, his face becoming exasperated as he did so. Finally he shoved it into James' hands while he folded his own over his chest. "This is your fault, you know."

James scowled at Sirius before beginning to read the short note as well.

_Hey~! I borrowed the map; Claire and I needed it to go shopping. Oh and for me to get into the Slytherin room. Thankies. XOXO_

_~The amazing Naida_

Remus did his best to hold in his chuckles at the note, even more so upon seeing the bunny face that she had drawn in the corner. Just to spit them, the girl had even drawn an arrow with a label below reading, "bunny".

Without thinking, the Marauders shoved Peter into the Slytherin girls' dorm room that Claire roomed in after reaching said place. They stood guard outside the door to make sure that no Slytherin tried to boot them out.

Peter, the poor deprived boy, ended up letting out a loud yelp and promptly fainted on the floor upon entering. Naida and Claire had been having girl talk in one of their rare moments of peace while the Slytherin girl had begun to get dressed from her shower. The dark-haired girl turned her head when the door opened and couldn't help but to begin laughing when Peter had seen Claire in her bra and then fainted.

When the door began to open again, the Gryffindor girl yelled and went to keep it shut. "NO! Don't come in!"

Nonetheless, the group of three tumbled in to spot Peter out cold on the floor and Claire in her bra. Remus, the gentleman, immediately covered his eyes with his hands as a red flush overtook his cheeks.

James and Sirius weren't so nice about it. The first boy flushed slightly before grinning at green-bra'd girl. "No wonder Peter passed out."

Sirius let out a whistle from his position on the floor, causing Naida to throw a pillow at him before her friend put a shirt on. "Very nice, Claire."

Naida sighed at the lot of them, wishing that she had used the map to make sure they hadn't come in the first place. Claire, on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow at their comments.

"Too bad you don't get to see again."

Tired of their intrusion, Naida lifted her wand to flick it towards the doorway. "_Ventus_." A gust of wind shot out of the tip of her wand to push the four boys harshly out and even slammed the door behind them. She rolled her eyes at Claire's wicked smile, unsure why the other girl was even smiling in the first place.

"You were jealous." Claire stated as she switched her random t-shirt to her costume. "You fancy Black."

Naida scowled at the redhead and stuck her wand back into her boot. "I do not _fancy_ him. Besides, you would've preferred if it were Remus looking. Oh Remus, you're such a gentleman." She teasingly mocked Claire who scowled in turn, throwing a random pillow at her.

"You make it sound like I fancy him. He's too nice for me to go out with, I'd break his heart."

Naida wrinkled her nose at Claire before jumping off the bed to head out, "Well, we don't fancy them then. Let's go. I wanna change."

After sneaking Claire into the Gryffindor tower, Naida swiftly changed into her costume before they checked each other over to make sure all was perfect. With a tap of her wand, Naida made sure that Claire's wild red hair was smoothed out and then smoothed down her own very bright blue skirt.

Naida was adorned in a bright blue, yellow and black costume. She wore a corset-like top that was blue and black with a pair of sparkling yellow, white and black butterfly wings charmed to stay on by themselves. A short, mid-thigh high blue skirt with black pieces clothed her lower half. White polka dots were on the black portions of the skirt, with a little bit of yellow material sticking out from beneath it all.

A pair of black high-heeled boots made Naida an inch and a half taller, while black fishnet covered from her wrist to halfway to her shoulder. To top it all off, Naida had charmed her black hair into being curly, with a black and white polka dot headband. In a playful show, Naida covered her face with a blue mask.

Claire went with the softer, earthier tones rather than Naida's extravagant blues. She wore a one-piece outfit that was akin to a woodland nymphs clothing. Her top hung slightly off the shoulders, and was a light brown in colour with pink ribbon holding the top together. A golden ribbon crisscrossed its way down her bodice to end at the short skirt. Barely covering the required amount of skin, her skirt matched the colour of her top but had pink pieces of material attached as well as more gold ribbon that was left to move about.

To cover up her feet, Claire had chosen a pair of ballet slippers that were a dark earthy brown with the ribbons having a red shimmer. Naida excelled at Charms, and so she gently tapped her friend's ribbons to stand out even more with their slight glittering. Claire pinned her hair up and curled it slightly, holding it all back with a single silver ribbon circling around her head.

When they went downstairs together, heads turned. Sirius' jaw dropped slightly at the normally covered-up girls and he nudged his friends who had the same reaction. Peter however, did his best not to faint again from the images still within his head.

"Who knew there was that gorgeous body under those robes?" Sirius murmured to James, eyeing the blue masked girl. "That is Naida, isn't it?"

James smirked at his best friend and elbowed him slightly. "You starting to fancy her?" He teased, causing the knight-costumed teen to scowl at him.

Naida spotted the Marauders quite easily and pointed them out to Claire with a giggle.

James was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera, to which Lily scowled at seeing as she was Christine. He was enjoying his cape waaay too much.

Sirius, the cheese ball, had dressed up as a knight without his armor and had even charmed some wood to look like a sword. He was casually flirting with any girl who had costumed as a princess.

Remus had dressed up as a Renaissance-era nobleman, with mostly gold stitching and had managed to pull the look off very well for his lanky form. He merely smiled as he watched his friends make fools of themselves, and did his best to perform his prefect duties. I.E. Keeping Sirius from pouring Firewhiskey into the punch.

Peter was dressed up as a pumpkin, although he had jeans and an orange shirt on with a jack-o-lantern face on it. He did his best to hide from the crowds, unable to go back up to his dorms under James' watchful eye.

Naida separated from Claire after they made their observations, choosing to move about the crowds with a rare grace. She watched the other Gryffindors from beneath her mask, her bright blue eyes outlines with black eyeliner. Spotting a guy watching her, Naida put a pretty smile on for him before they began to dance. With neither party having any knowledge of the other's feelings, Sirius merely watched Naida move before paying attention to the girl he had flirted into dancing.

As the night dragged on, Remus chose to grab all of his friends to make sure that none had gotten inebriated or had fallen down stairs again. He found James pestering Lily easy enough, and then used James to help Sirius from falling over his own feet. Sirius had managed to drink some of the Firewhiskey himself, and was currently sobering up with his bottle taken away.

At some point, Peter had retreated upstairs so they didn't worry about him. Instead they found the Slytherin nymph flirting with an older Gryffindor, not being shy about her intentions at all. Without even apologizing, James grabbed Claire to drag her along with him and ignored her protesting.

"We've lost Naida." Remus sighed, reviewing the group. Sirius was almost sober, although he was still murmuring to himself. James was in much better shape, although he had begun sulking about being torn away from Lily. Claire was in an elegant state of disarray, with one of her shoulder ribbons half untied and her hair slightly messed up from snogging someone.

"How do you lose a bright blue and yellow clad girl?" Claire demanded, hoping that one of her friends had kept an eye on her. "Remus, I thought you had her!"

"I did, but then she slipped away when I turned my back."

Discontinuing their arguing, the group went in search of Naida. Upon searching all of the common room, they decided to exit the place in order to continue their search. Sirius had become oddly quiet, and merely hung back slightly behind James.

Claire was the one to find Naida; the latter girl wrapped up in a guy's arms and was snogging the daylights out of him. Upon hearing footsteps, the masked guy opened his eyes and fled once realizing it was the Marauders and their Slytherin friend. Naida pouted after him before turning to pout at her friends.

"Now I'll have to train another one to kiss how I like."

The redheaded girl laughed at this before grabbing her friend's arm, stopping her movements when she felt Naida shaking slightly. "Sweetie, are you okay?" Claire murmured to her blue-clad friend who looked at the floor rather than reply.

"I'll tell you later." Naida mumbled, resting her head against Claire's shoulder as they walked. She refused to look at the guys, except for Remus whom she gave a smile at.

Soon enough they all split apart to go to their separate rooms, all dreading the following Sunday.


	8. What Comes Between Seven and Nine

**Another Author Note: **Just keep posting, just keep posting, posting, posting. I solemnly swear I did not get into the sugar...much.

**Disclaimer: **Same as the last chapter. 

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**Chapter Eight**

Naida bummed around nearby Hagrid's hut, although still remained on the hill that overlooked it. She realized she was avoiding her friends, but the night before hadn't gone exactly as she had wanted. Idly she ran her fingers through the grass on the ground as she thought in silence, her normal energy toned down at the moment.

A presence sat down next to her and her eyes lifted to note that it was Claire, seeing as the other girl knew Naida almost better than she did herself lately. The redhead wore a pair of jeans and a nice top with her Slytherin sweater, whereas Naida had chosen track pants and a Gryffindor sweater.

"What's up?" Claire questioned, watching as her friend brought up her knees to place her chin on them. Rather than stare at Naida she chose to watch down below the hill, where Hagrid was patiently feeding a Hippogriff.

"Sirius kissed me." Naida murmured, so quietly that her friend has to strain to hear. "But I could taste the Firewhiskey. It wasn't real. I went and snogged someone else out of spite, at least the lust then was real." She sighed as she continued to run her fingers over the grass, looking down at Hagrid and the Hippogriff as well.

Claire turned her head to stare at Naida, the latter girl refusing to look at her friend in case the tears in her eyes spilled over. "…Oh sweetie, you do fancy him don't you?" She scooted closer to wrap her arms around the red-and-gold coloured girl who was producing a sigh.

"I don't think I fancy him. I just don't know where we stopped being friends who could joke together and then me ending up crushing on him." Naida leaned her head on Claire's shoulder, closing her eyes to stop any tears. She hated crying and absolutely refused to do it unless there was no way to make sure that she didn't.

"If you admit it, it won't hurt so much."

"Blah. I don't want to fancy anyone, especially not Sirius. He uses hearts and then breaks them. I've known that since before we became friends." Naida smiled wryly at her friend, blinking back pain. "Serves me right I suppose. I mean, James is like my big brother and it's only the best cliché for a girl to fancy her brother's best friend."

Claire laughed at this and squeezed her friend's shoulders tightly. "That is true. Maybe it's just a crush though. You'll survive sweetie. There are so many more wizards out there. Or maybe you need a witch." She grinned at Naida who snickered in response.

"Who knows? I'm only sixteen~."

"So, what else happened?" The Slytherin girl questioned as she leaned her head against Naida's. The girl pushed out another sigh and looked down the hill again.

"I told him that I didn't need my heart broken, and I ran away."

"He started drinking after you left. James had to support him while we went to find you." Claire mused lightly, not moving her eyes from the view from the hill.

"He was drinking before I left. I don't want to get into a relationship that I already know the ending to. I need mystery and surprises." Naida complained, her tears long gone and her normal personality slowly shining through again.

Claire continued to hold her best friend, poking her cheek with one of her hands. "I could always hex him. I don't like the fact you're upset."

Naida shook her head and blew a raspberry on Claire's cheek, causing the other girl to recoil away. "I'd prefer to ignore it. I don't want to ruin the group dynamic we have going on. You know me, suffer for a few minutes and then blow right by it." She stood up from her moping position to brush off her butt before helping Claire up as well.

"Let's go play with the new Hippogriff of Hagrid's." Naida declared with a bright smile, causing Claire to raise an eyebrow at her sudden change in mood.

"I'll watch… I'd rather not risk my life, thank you very much."

The Marauders found the two girls petting the young Hippogriff with Hagrid watching over them. Naida nuzzled her face against Buckbeak's neck feathers and he turned to very lightly preen her hair. She giggled and pulled away to feed him a dead ferret.

"There you are, you've been avoiding us." James said from a respectable distance, making sure not to startle the half horse, half bird creature into hurting the girls. He made a face at Naida who rolled her eyes in return.

She patted Buckbeak's neck before giving a playful curtsy to the foal Hippogriff. Pleased with the girl, Buckbeak bowed in return and Naida turned to address James.

"I needed some space, a girl starts to feel suffocated around you lot." Naida stuck her tongue out at the group of boys as Claire joined them after saying goodbye to Hagrid and Buckbeak.

"Must be our devilish good looks, hey Sirius?" James questioned his best friend with a large grin. Sirius made an agreeing noise as he smiled at the two girls. Claire glared at them before Naida moved to block her view, shaking her head slightly with a light smile.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Nothing short of death could change him." Naida whispered into her friend's ear, causing Claire to let out a mixture between a snort and a snicker.

"What? What'd you say?" James stepped forward with his eyebrow raised and the girls rolled their eyes at him. They started up the hill with the group-trailing behind them like little lost ducklings.

Naida fell back for a moment to grab Remus and drag him to walk in front with Claire and herself. She looped her arm around one of his and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Naida is having boy problems." Claire stated, grinning when said girl leaned around the boy to stick her tongue out. She pulled back when Remus made a startled noise, only to smile up at him.

"You do realize that I am a boy…not a girl." Remus stated, looking down at both of the females on either side of him. Claire giggled and Naida grinned, winking to the other girl as she did so.

"We're quite aware you are a boy. Especially-one-of-us-is." Naida rushed out her last sentence and smirked as Claire fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

Remus eyed first one girl, and then the other, with wary eyes as he was unsure what exactly they were thinking. With his male friends, he knew how their minds worked. These two were a whole different concept at times.

"Anyhow," Claire piped up while looping her own arm through Remus' free one with much more elegance then Naida, even gently laying her fingertips on his forearm. "I was thinking that you could let Naida use the Prefects' bathroom. I mean, once someone is in it then it remains locked until they come out. And she could use the relaxing…please?"

Remus' face became torn between following the rules or helping out a friend, and getting a lecture from Lily. He sighed and nodded, "We'll have to time it just right though. That is a good idea though, besides chocolate. Even though chocolate cures everything." He smiled and the two girls grinned up at him.

"Only you think chocolate cures everything." Claire teased, causing Remus' face turn a very slight pink.

Naida snickered at Claire's teasing before letting go of Remus to grab onto the other girl. They looped their arms together and waved as they headed the rest of the way into the castle by themselves.

"Why are you hoggin' all the girls?" James faux complained to his lanky friend, the latter merely smiling at the former.

"Why'd they single _you_ out?" Sirius questioned, a slight grin tugging at his lips. Remus shrugged in response and turned to walk through the castle gates, the other three Marauders following close behind.


End file.
